[Techtalk] spamassassin

[Mary]

On Sat, Oct 26, 2002, kansas_kennedy at phreaker.net wrote:
> I recently got the anti-spam program. But seems like it requires
> procmail to get started. Although I have procmail installed I never
> used it; I largely use KMail. 
> 
> My question is: is there any way around procmail to KMail? And some
> other nitty-gritties (tips/ trix) about spamassassin from veteran
> users.

To use spam assassin, whatever you're using to get your mail needs to be
able to send the mail out to the spamassassin program itself, which
rewrites the mail. It then needs to accept it back.

This is part of procmail's functionality, but I don't think being able
to filter mail through arbitary programs is a normal part of many other
mail programs. KMail users can tell you for sure.

Can you tell us a bit about how you currently receive your mail? Do you
download it to your machine from your ISP? Do you download it from a
machine you or a friend runs? Do you read it on the system it is
delivered to (fairly unlikely if you're using KMail, because most people
don't use the same machine for desktop and server use, but worth
asking)?

Depending on the system you are using, we might be able to help you find
an alternative way to set SpamAssassin up.

One thing I've noticed with spamassassin: *all* commerical mail looks
like spam to it. My "welcome to ICQ, you DID request this message" email
was marked "Lame 'you opted-in' excuse" and filed as spam. Some
commerical mailouts I have requested are regularly marked as spam.

You should probably learn how to whitelist, although I haven't bothered
yet ;)

-Mary